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24 August 2013

Thanks, Bobby!

I passed an anniversary milestone this week. I'm not talking about my wedding anniversary, which was a week earlier; I'm talking about five years playing chess960. I recorded the decision to play in a post on my main blog,
Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?
-- yes, we shall, and a month later I reported on my first game,
Chess960? I'm Hooked!

At the same time I began playing, I started looking into the nuances of the game, including a weekly post on that main blog. Some months later, in May 2009, I set up this current blog,
Chess960 Blogging Leaves Home,
and have been writing at least one post a week.

My first chess960 games brought back powerful memories of the days when I started to take a keen interest in chess. The thrill of discovery used to be a rare emotion, but now I experience it during every chess960 game, where the intellectual challenge starts on the first move.

After five years I'm still full of enthusiasm. My chess middlegame is stronger, thanks to the fantastic number of new types of position that chess960 offers, and my endgame is much stronger, now that I have time available for study that used to be spent on the openings. Knowing that I can tackle endless varieties of never-before-seen positions has given me additional confidence in all phases of the game.

For me, the only open question is whether chess960 will ever become as popular as chess is. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. As long as there are other keen players against whom I can match wits, its popularity doesn't matter at all.

1 comment:

Mark wrote:{My chess middlegame is stronger, thanks to the fantastic number of new types of position that chess960 offers, and my endgame is much stronger, now that I have time available for study that used to be spent on the openings.}

Yes, by limiting itself to only one start setup, the chess world has unwittingly hidden from itself a variety of interesting early middle-game position types that arise only when another start setup is used.

These hidden middle-game positions are as valid to the concept of chess as any that arise from the one traditional start setup; even if the newer setup is deemed less valid than its traditional counterpart.

FOLLOW THE MONEY MONEY MONEY

Through their sponsorships, corporations are what make elite grandmaster chess happen.

If a corporation wants publicity in return for its sponsorship money, it should want to try sponsoring an elite chess960 tournament. But the corp should have its Public Relations person stoke the media by writing about the "interesting novelty" of the new start setup, and about the "big controversy" that it is causing.

As it is today, no standard United States news outlet is paying the slightest attention to any of the elite grandmaster chess tournaments.(Although Carlsen is getting some press, a little like a B.Fischer did, because Carlsen has some western youth appeal, and because Carlsen is not yet another East European.)

So, it is more a matter of one major chess corporate sponsor deciding that chess960-FRC has more financial benefit to them than yet another ignored traditional chess tournament.One such corp can have a big effect, and not everyone needs to be convinced before big change can be set in motion.